ROXBURY — The Oxford County Soil and Water Conservation District has announced the start of a two-year project to control erosion in the Ellis Pond Watershed, also known as Silver Lake or Roxbury Pond.

The project is funded by a grant of $96,826 from Section 319 of the federal Clean Water Act, plus $67,345 in local donations of cash, labor, equipment and supplies.

To implement Phase 1 of the Ellis Pond Watershed Protection Project, OCSWCD is working in partnership with the Ellis Pond Watershed Committee, the town of Roxbury, Androscoggin River Watershed Council, Silver Lake Camp Owners Association and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Volunteers from the Maine Volunteer Lakes Monitoring Program have tested water quality in Ellis Pond for over two decades. The water quality of the lake is generally good, but there is growing concern about lower water clarity as well as increased nutrients, like phosphorus, in the water, along with higher algae growth.

In the summer of 2013, Ellis Pond experienced its first major algae bloom, which caused local residents and landowners to form the Ellis Pond Watershed Committee to look into the possible causes.

One of the leading causes for algae blooms in lakes and ponds is an increase in sediment transport into the lake. Phosphorus particles often “hitchhike” on soil that erodes from the watershed. If too much phosphorus, a plant nutrient, enters a lake, the result can be a large algae bloom that turns a formerly clear lake into a slimy, green mess. Such blooms have already occurred in China Lake near Augusta and Sabattus Pond in Lewiston. 

In the past decade, Ellis Pond has experienced significant soil erosion from the surrounding land — the watershed — during storm events.

In 2014, the Ellis Pond Watershed Committee and DEP led a watershed survey to document erosion throughout the Ellis Pond Watershed. Surveyors documented 183 sites that contribute erosion to Ellis Pond; many were located on or near the lakeshore, but significant sites were also found higher up in the hills on streams that feed the pond.

Phase I of the Ellis Pond Watershed Protection allows OCSWCD to use federal grant dollars to assist in covering the cost of fixing large erosion problems with project partners. It aims to reduce the amount of erosion that enters Ellis Pond by 71 tons per year, which is a large portion of the erosion documented in the 2014 watershed survey.

Through this grant OCSWCD is able to offer free technical assistance to landowners in the Ellis Pond watershed who request assistance dealing with erosion problems, such as a problematic gravel driveway directing runoff toward the pond, or a water access area that is unstable and eroding.

A technical expert will visit landowners on their property, at no cost, to make specific recommendations to correct erosion problems which will help protect the water quality of Ellis Pond. Small awards of $350 are available to landowners to help finance the implementation of erosion control measures.

Technical assistance and the $350 awards are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Interested landowners in the Ellis Pond watershed are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible.

All work conducted under Phase I of the Ellis Pond Watershed Protection Project is voluntary and no regulatory enforcement is involved.

While this project addresses all of the highest-priority erosion sites from the 2014 watershed survey, it is anticipated a second phase will be needed to tackle the remaining medium-priority sites as well as new ones that may arise.

FMI, sign up for assistance: 207-743-5789, ext. 101, [email protected].